Guangzhou Restaurant at No. 2 Wenchang South Road opened since 1935, is housed in a 3 storey building.This famous Cantonese restaurant has on the ground floor central courtyard, a water pond.On the 2nd floor, there are private rooms & an open space for smaller groups to dine.Guangzhou Restaurant has a nice ambience & is spacious & not rowdy, making the dining experience pleasant.The open area for smaller groups to enjoy dining. The restaurant serves dim sum even at night though many go there early in the mornings for it’s Yum Cha!The restaurant is clean & their service relatively good on the day we visited.“Tŏng Zĭ Chi Yόu Ji” – Half a Chicken RMB¥65. This chicken comes with a rather oily & salty garlic sauce but my preference is for a grated ginger with freshly pounded chilli & garlic condiment. Like those we have with Hainanese Chicken Rice.“Hei Zong Cuì Pí Shao É” – Half a Roasted Goose RMB¥165. Black &am; White – Goose Wing verses Chicken Wing. The goose we ordered was not oozing oil like the famous one from Yung Kee Restaurant in Hongkong but I like it this way. Though both were tasty, they were not tender enough or prepared to the doneness that I would find delectable.“Lăo Tán Suan Cài Hόng Shao Ròu” – RMB¥48. This fatty pork dish with lots of Capsicum, Onion & sourish Mustard leaves was pleasing enough & the pork-lovers amongst us certainly relished it.“XO Jiàng Niàng Dòufu” RMB¥38. This Fried Doufu dish was tasty & thankfully not ‘sweet’; as I thought when I first spied the reddish coloured sauce. This goes very well with steamed white rice.“Yăng Shen Hua Jiao Tang” RMB¥98 serving for 1 person. This soup is delicious & I believe nutritious as it has Dried Scallop, Dried Octopus, Shitake mushroom, Chicken, Fish maw, Red dates & Shan Yao (Rhizoma Dioscoreae – long used as a tonic, earning the name ‘fairy food’) nicely melded together. It would have been perfect if the layer of oil was strained away.“Bái Yún Shàng Sù” RMB¥ 68. This vegetarian dish went down well with most of us. Black Fungus, Baby Pak Choy (Chinese Cabbage), White Chinese Cabbage, Carrots, King Trumpet Mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii), Straw Mushrooms & Pine Nuts. Perhaps the chef could go lighter with the use of Cornstarch as a thickener for the sauce, as it is a tad gooey.
The overall dining experience at Guangzhou Restaurant was pleasant but unfortunately it has been overhyped & my expectations were raised very high. The prices & quantity was reasonable & compensated somewhat for the just slightly above-average cuisine.
travelikeme 